


Christmas in New York

by orphan_account



Category: Glee
Genre: Blaine is hired as seasonal help, Kurt works at Macy's in NYC, M/M, Slow Burn, he's an elf, holiday au, no beta we die like men, slightly based off of Lea Michele's Christmas album, tags will be updated as this goes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:08:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22061575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Klaine AU where Kurt works at Macy's, and Blaine is hired as seasonal help. Another Christmas worker keeps flirting with Blaine, but he only has eyes for Kurt. His only worry is that he doesn't know nearly anything about Kurt, let alone if he may feel the same way about him.Inspiration gained from Christmas in the City by Lea Michele, and chapters will be titled based on lyrics from that album.
Relationships: Blaine Anderson/Kurt Hummel
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Christmas in New York

The biting wind assaulting his nose and cheeks, 23-year-old Kurt Hummel ducked into the tall Macy’s building that he seemed to spend more and more time in as the holiday season ramped up. He sighed in relief and rubbed his hands together when inside, quickly moving away from the door as to not block other people from entering. Only when he could feel his fingers again did he finally look around, taking note of just how many people were working that morning. The store didn’t open for another hour, yet there were already more people there than he’d seen in his entire time working there. “Oh yeah. Seasonal help’s first day,” he thought after noticing his boss standing on a chair in front of what was a startlingly large crowd for 8 in the morning. He, staying close to the walls to avoid the people, went into the break room and took his coat off and put it in his locker. He put his hat and gloves in his bag, grabbed his name tag and fastened it to his top, and went to the bathroom to check his hair and wash his hands before he started his shift. Kurt took a deep breath and straightened his vest before going back onto the main floor.

  
He skulked around the back edge of the crowd but couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching him. He turned his head and scanned all the backs of heads until he found someone facing him and watching him intently. He was on the shorter side, with striking hazel eyes, a toned figure, and too much hair gel. Kurt averted his gaze quickly, trying not to meet his eyes. He got to work reorganizing the table of shoes nearest him and spent 5 minutes making sure they were perfect. If anybody asked him if he was avoiding the cute boy’s stare, he’d deny it. But, when he turned around, he was still looking at Kurt like nobody else was in the room. Their boss dismissed them over to Santaland so they could get to work building the set and adding lights and fake snow and trees. All of this was done while a duet version of Last Christmas played, and Kurt thought the girl sounded excessively autotuned. Kurt moved around his section of the store, working on rearranging the shirts on one rack so they were in ascending size order. He turned around towards the sound of the music and smiled slightly at the progress that had been made in Santaland in the few short minutes since he’d last checked. It always amazed him how quickly the scene went up and came back down with so many people helping. He looked down at his watch and decided he had a few minutes to spend enjoying the lights and sounds of the holiday season. Slowly making his way through the hubbub, he paused for a moment and looked up at the ceiling, where someone was stringing lights, perched precariously on a ladder.

  
He was pulled out of his thoughts by someone tapping him on the shoulder. He turned around and found himself face to face with his boss, who didn’t look pleased with him.

  
“Hummel. Where are you supposed to be?” She asked and gave him a disapproving glare.

  
“Sorry, I’ll get back to work.”

  
“That’s what I thought. Don’t let it happen again.”

  
“Hang on. He’s with me. I asked him for some help putting the ornaments on this tree since I can’t reach the top, and you caught him right as he was coming to help me.” The cute boy from earlier came to his defense with a large box of ornaments in his arms.

  
“Alright, Anderson. But he’s your responsibility.” She turned around and went back to pacing the floor, keeping an eye out for anyone else who looked the least bit distracted.

  
“Sorry about that. I’m Blaine, nice to meet you.” He tried to extend a hand to Kurt over his box of ornaments but wound up almost dropping them, leading Kurt to reach in to help him carry them over to a table where they could set them down to work. Their fingers brushed, and Kurt blushed slightly.

  
“I’m Kurt,” he said quietly, trying not to be too presumptuous. He didn’t want to scare Blaine off.

  
“I actually can’t reach the top of this tree. Could you help me out?” Blaine flashed a smile in his direction, his eyes sparkling in the harsh fluorescent lights with a glint of something Kurt couldn’t quite pin down. Mischief? Compassion? He couldn’t tell.

  
“Sure. Just tell me where you want them.” Kurt smiled and started taking them out of their wrapping. He followed Blaine’s instructions for a few and then let him get started on another tree while he finished up this one. He’d just finished and turned to see Blaine standing on a teetering chair with his hands full of glass ornaments. “Need any help?” He asked with a playful smirk.

  
“Uh, yeah, actually. I sort of do. Can you take a few of these?” Blaine asked, clearly flustered. He handed a few down to Kurt, who carefully hung them in the spots where the tree was looking bare. He stole a few glances at him while he worked, turning away quick enough--he hoped--to avoid Kurt turning to look back at him. “Could I get a hand?” He asked shyly.

  
“Of course! Wouldn’t want you falling on your first day.” Kurt extended his arm so Blaine could grab it, which he did. He held on tight enough to dig his nails into Kurt’s forearm accidentally, and he apologized profusely when he noticed Kurt’s grimace.

  
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry! Are you bleeding? Do you want me to get a paper towel? Do you need a bandaid?”

  
Kurt laughed nervously. “No, I’m fine. Your nails aren’t all that sharp, anyways. Don’t worry about it.” He flashed a small smile his way and watched as a bright blush crept its way up Blaine’s neck and face.

  
They stood silently for a few awkward moments until Kurt broke the silence with a soft “Well, I’d better get back to work. It was nice meeting you, Blaine.”

  
Blaine couldn’t find the words to respond by the time Kurt had walked away, so he turned and let out a soft sigh as he began spreading fake snow everywhere, stealing glances at the taller boy whenever he was visible.

  
By lunchtime, Blaine’s brain was completely fried from all the socializing he had to do that morning, and he just wanted to curl up in bed with a hot coffee and a thick blanket. Instead, he grabbed his lunch out of his locker and sat on the floor in a deserted corner of the break area, his face buried in a book as he ate. He finished his sandwich and pretzels, got up, put his lunchbox and book back in his locker, and went to wash his hands. It was just his luck that the only sink available was next to Kurt. He washed his hands quickly, checked to make sure he hadn’t rubbed off any of the concealer under his eyes, and reached for the paper towels, accidentally brushing hands with Kurt again. “God, I’m so sorry. I never look where I’m going,” he began rambling and quickly cut his speech off as to not make an even bigger fool of himself.

  
“Don’t worry about it,” Kurt said reassuringly and handed Blaine a couple paper towels. They both dried their hands, and Kurt opened the door for Blaine with a paper towel and held it for him.

  
“Thanks… you didn’t have to do that, though.” Blaine looked down at the floor and crumpled the damp paper towels into a ball in his hands before dropping them in the nearest trash can.

  
“If I didn’t, I’d be making a poor impression. I don’t want to do that.” He let the door fall shut behind them and shot him a flirty smile as he dropped the paper towel in the trashcan right outside the door.

  
“Thank you. I have to get back to setting up, but… I hope we can talk later?” Blaine looked up at Kurt and smiled shyly, his shoulders turned the slightest bit inward, making him appear even smaller.

  
“Of course.” Kurt smiled back and turned away to walk back to the section of the store where he normally worked.

  
Blaine stole a glance over his shoulder at Kurt and forced himself to look away from how unfairly tight his jeans were and how they hugged every curve on his figure perfectly.

  
“Quit slacking, Anderson. You can get yourself a new boy toy on your own time,” his boss snarked with an eye roll.

  
Blaine got back to work immediately, busying himself with stringing popcorn to make a garland for one of the many trees that had been set up. He worked mindlessly until someone tapped him on the shoulder.

  
“Didn’t you hear Janelle? Get home. Tomorrow’s going to be longer,” a young man in striped tights said cheerily.

  
“Oh. Yeah. OK. Thanks, um…” Blaine looked nervously for a name tag but couldn’t find one, which left him stumbling trying to remember if they’d been introduced and he’d somehow forgotten his name already.

  
“Elijah. I don’t believe we’ve been introduced.” He extended his hand for a shake, and Blaine took note of how soft it was and how well-groomed his nails were.

  
“Yeah, no. I’m Blaine. It’s nice to meet you, Elijah.”

  
“Want some help finishing up? I can help box some of this up for you so you can get out of here faster.”

  
“That’d be great, thanks.”

  
They both went back to work, Blaine finishing the garland strand and tying it off before stringing it around the nearest bare tree and closing the popcorn bag with a twist tie. Elijah found himself stealing glances at the other man while they worked but turned away every time he caught himself staring. Thankfully, Blaine was oblivious. They finished up and walked back to the break room silently, Blaine dreading every minute he was still here, as it meant more time that he wasn’t at home in bed. As he was pulling his coat on and grabbing his scarf and hat out of the smaller section of his cubby on top of the one holding his coat, he felt Elijah’s eyes on him and turned to sling his bag across his body.

  
“I’ll… see you tomorrow, Elijah,” Blaine said cordially and scurried out of the room. He walked hastily to the elevator and got off at the first floor, not stopping to say goodbye to anyone on his way out. He was exhausted and just wanted to get home. He went the few blocks to his apartment and took the stairs to the fourth floor to give himself time to think before he went inside.

He took his shoes off inside the door and set them on the mat so they wouldn’t get snow and slush all over the floor, checked his phone for any notifications, sighed when the only one he had was a video message from Team Snapchat, and set it down on the counter while he poked around in the fridge to find something to make for dinner. He got a tall glass of water and sipped on it while he thought about what he should make, finally deciding on spaghetti bolognese with the ground beef he had in the freezer that was close to its expiration date. He put the pasta on while he cooked up the ground beef, then added the tomato sauce to the pasta once he’d decided it was cooked enough and dished it up. Finally, he added the ground beef on top of everything and put the dishes he’d used in the sink to wash up later that night while he listened to the news in the background. He grabbed a fork and sat down in a tall-backed chair facing a window so he could look out over the city. He tried to focus on eating mindfully and paying attention to it, but he kept finding his thoughts repeatedly drawn to Kurt. He eventually finished his meal and rinsed his plate off before adding it to the small pile of dirty dishes in the sink and grabbing his laptop.

  
What he did next wasn’t his proudest moment. He opened up a new incognito window and began entering various search terms to hopefully get him a little bit more information on Kurt. Unfortunately, with just a first name and a workplace, that was nearly impossible. He gave up and washed the dishes while his mind drifted further away from anything of substance and closer to the land of “oh my god… cute boy at work, and maybe he’s into me too. It’s just like my own little Hallmark movie” and all the fantasies that came with it. He dried the dishes and put them away while he lost himself in his head, then started his nighttime routine and got into bed after locking the door again--just to be safe--and turning out all the lights. He plugged his phone into the charger and swiped through Tinder for a while, audibly gasping when he came across a certain guy: Kurt Hummel, 24, NYC.


End file.
